Olympic National Park is located on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, which is in the northwestern corner of the state of Washington. Olympic National Park covers an area of almost one million acres, which is equivalent to 405,000 hectares, and is bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island. It became a national park on June 29, 1938. In addition, ninety-five percent of the park was designated as wilderness as of November 16, 1988.
Olympic National Park has been said to be three parks in one, as it includes three distinct ecosystems: mountains, rain forest, and seacoast shore.
The Pacific Ocean controls the climate of the Olympic Peninsula. ...
The park contains most of the Olympic Mountains, most notably Mount Olympus, which at 2428 miles or 7965 feet high, is the tallest of all the Olympic Mountains. ... In the forty-eight contiguous states, the Olympic Mountains have the lowest snow line, which is the elevation above which snow exists all year long. In the Olympic Mountains, this is about six thousand feet. ...
The Olympic forest is often referred to as a rain forest because it receives an annual rainfall that exceeds twelve feet. ... The Olympic rain forest is very unique and different from other forests in North America. ... It has been estimated that more than one hundred fifty different types of mosses are presently in the Olympic forest. ...
There are three main zones in the Olympic rain forest: the Canadian zone, the Hudsonian zone, and the Arctic-Alpine zone. ... Olympic onion, marsh marigolds, and harebell can be found in the lower part of the zone while eriogonum, agoseris, and siversia can be found at the top of the zone. Ten of the twenty endemic plants that live in the Olympic Peninsula are found in the Arctic-Alpine zone, including the Olympic rock cress, Henderson’s spirea, Flett violet, alpine dandelion, Piper’s harebell, and fleabane daisies.
Half of the one hundred mile long Olympic Ocean Strip is part of the Olympic National Park. In 1953, President Truman declared it as part of the park. It was the last addition to the park. ... Luckily, the wildest and most primitive parts of the strip are included in the park’s boundaries. The part of the strip that is included in the Olympic National Park starts at the Quinault Indian Reservation and stretches about fifty miles northward to the mouth of the Ozette River near Cape Alava. However, a whole one-third of the strip is crossed by the Olympic Highway, which disqualifies that part from becoming wilderness. ... In Olympic National Park, one will find both sandy beaches and rocky shores with tide pools. ... The Olympic Peninsula has been submerged under the Pacific Ocean at least five times over about one hundred twenty million year. ... The Olympic Mountains originated in the Mesozoic Era. ... As a result of the fifth appearance of the Olympics from the sea, the western part of the whole range rose out of the sea and formed the Olympic Mountain range of today. ... Some believe that the Olympics are still in the process of being elevated, and others believe the entire Olympic Peninsula is slowly moving northeastward.
Since Olympic National Park is so big, it provides a home for a wide variety of species, even migratory animals like birds. One of the most prominent of the bigger animals in the park is the Olympic elk, also known as the Roosevelt elk. ... Although the mule deer has not well adapted to the Olympic environment, the mountain goat thrives in Olympic National Park. The large predators in this area include the black bear, the Olympic mountain lion, the Olympic coyote, and the Olympic wildcat. Before the area was designated as a national park, the Olympic wolf was plentiful; now, however, it is believed to be extinct. The smaller animals in the park include the Olympic marmot, the Douglas squirrel, the chipmunk, the raccoon, and the mountain beaver. Because there are different ecosystems within the park, the habitats are suitable for many types of animals. An interesting fact is that most of the animals in the forest and mountains in the park are darker than similar animals that live in other parts of the world. ...
Most of the vegetation in the sea and near the coast of Olympic National Park is planktonic organisms that cannot be seen by the human eye.
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